


It Goes Into a Standstill

by Fangirl_Deluxe14



Series: Secrets and Fallouts [4]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Anti-Abby, Anti-McGee, Anti-Ziva, Case Fic, Competent Tony DiNozzo, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 02:17:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13694802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirl_Deluxe14/pseuds/Fangirl_Deluxe14
Summary: Abby, McGee and Ziva get reprimanded yet again, but do they listen?  Of course not.





	It Goes Into a Standstill

**Author's Note:**

> Part four of the It Started Small Verse. The trio still has difficulties coping with Tony's new position as team lead.

Monday, October 24, 2011 

 

While Tony is being yelled at by Abby, McGee and Ziva return to the bullpen.  McGee makes his way to his desk silently while Ziva stops in front of Alex.

 

 “That is my desk, Quinn.  I demand it back”, she says harshly.

 

 “You are in no place to make demands like that, David.  You refused a direct order from a senior agent and you went AWOL while we had a murder investigation on our hands”, Alex tells her.  “Had Gibbs been here, he would have most certainly not been pleased by your demands.”

 

 “And where is Gibbs? Or Tony? Or Stan?” Ziva asks stubbornly, taking the opportunity to sit down at Tony’s desk and rest her feet on the desk.

 

 “Gibbs and Burley are interviewing the victim's fiancé while DiNozzo is down in the lab, working on the forensic evidence”, Quinn says to her.  “And his impression of you will certainly not improve by your actions, David.”

 

 “Tony knows me, he can’t hate me.  He loves me”, Ziva smirks confidently.

 

 “From what he’s told me, he doesn’t love you, David.  To me his feelings for you are closer to hate, distrust and disgust.  I wouldn’t be as calm as you are if I was in your spot.”

 

 “Finally decided to join us, David, McGee?” Director Vance asks coolly as he stands in the entrance to the bullpen.  “Go up to my office, now.”  He looks at the other end of the hall as Abby stomps out of the elevator and towards them.  “Gibbs! Tony is wreaking havoc on my lab!” She exclaims, stopping in front of Gibbs’ empty desk.  “Where’s Gibbs?” She asks as she turns, only then noticing Vance.  “Oh.  Hey, director.” She smiles innocently.

 

 “Miss Sciuto, please follow agents David and McGee up to my office immediately, I want to have a word with all of you”, Vance replies.  Abby nods meekly and walks towards the stairs, following close behind Ziva and McGee.  They all carry identical looks of confusion on their faces, although McGee’s and Ziva’s also have some smugness, they are both sure Vance will tell them he is giving them the recognition they deserve.

 

 The three stand in front of Vance's desk as the director sits down.  “I've watched you three and heard you for the past days, and months even, after DiNozzo’s behavior started changing and his mask started to come off.  And I have to say, I'm not pleased with what I see.  I thought you were more mature than this. I'm frankly shocked DiNozzo and Gibbs haven't demanded the two of you to be transferred to other teams or out of town after your repeated verbal bashing of Agent DiNozzo.  It just shows his extreme tolerance.” Vance looks at them, watching their facial expressions.

 

 “Don't say you're in on this prank too, director.  What have we done to deserve a prank of this scale?” Abby blurts.

 

 “What you have done, miss Sciuto, is refuse to see what is right in front of you.  A forensic scientist like you, who strive to seek the truth, fallen by her own blindness for what's in front of her.  This isn’t a prank, or a joke, this is real, this is serious, and right now I’m this close to taking David’s and McGee’s badges away from them for improper behavior towards superiors.  So tell me, McGee, why I shouldn’t fire you.”

 

 McGee looks at Vance incredulously.  “Why am I even being questioned about this?  I’m a very valuable member of the team, they wouldn’t get the job done if I wasn’t there.”

 

 “Oh really?  Because from what I’ve seen from DiNozzo, Gibbs and their new members is that they work together as well, if not better, than I’ve seen you work with them for all these years.  And I saw DiNozzo and Quinn down in the lab, they both knew what they were doing and are perfectly competent to do both theirs and your job, McGee.  Yours too, miss Sciuto.”  Vance has to admit to himself that he thoroughly enjoyed knocking McGee down a few pegs.  He knew the man needed it, Ziva had made him think too highly of himself.

 

 “What?!  You were there and just _let him_ do my job?” Abby's shocked and even more pissed off than she had been when she had found Tony in her lab.

 

 “You weren’t there, DiNozzo and Quinn had everything under control and I saw no reason not to let them do their jobs to move the investigation onward.  We want to catch a killer, and fast.  Not have to wait on you to decide to return to work.  DiNozzo has written all of you up for being AWOL, his reports of absence are all here on my computer, he sent them to me as soon as he knew you had left the building”, Vance continues.  “And, if I hear of one more instance of this sort of behavior, you will all be suspended without pay for an undisclosed amount of time.  Am I making myself clear?”

 

 All three of them freeze for a moment when he mentioned being suspended, and they all begin talking over each other, all three trying to tell Vance why they shouldn’t be suspended. “I’m a vital part of the team”, “doing this will affect the entire NCIS” and “you can’t do this” were basically the essence of their words.

 

 “STOP!”  Vance bellows after just a few moments.  “Get out of here and get your act together, but if I hear of one more incident like this, I will pull your badges, David, McGee, and place all three of you on suspension without pay.  And I will find a replacement for you, miss Sciuto.  Do not make the mistake to think you’re irreplaceable.”  He looks at them expectantly as they gather themselves and leave the office quietly.  Once the door closed behind them, Vance leans back in his seat and runs a hand over his face.  He lets out a sigh and thought to himself, _why hasn’t this been obvious before?_

 

*~*~*~*~*

 

 When Gibbs got called down to Ducky for the autopsy results, he goes down to meet him.

 

 “What have we got, Duck?”  He asks, a bit impatiently as always.

 

 “What we have, Jethro, is a young Lieutenant bludgeoned to death violently.  Extremely violently.  Come here and take a look at the bruising on his face, chest and legs.  I found traces of metal that I sent up to the lab for analysis with Mr Palmer.”  Ducky gestured to the markings on the victim’s body as he spoke.

 

 “Blunt force trauma cause of death?”

 

 “No. Curiously enough it was internal hemorrhaging.  These hits were delivered with such force that they broke ribs and almost punctured his lungs.  The resulted ruptured blood vessels made the young man bleed out slowly, in agonizing pain.  Well, in pain until he was struck over the head and knocked unconscious.  But, alas, the wounds to the head were not the cause of his demise.  They were mere taps compared to the ones on his chest and stomach.”

 

 Gibbs looks around and, making sure Jimmy isn’t there, steps closer to Ducky.  “I need to talk to you.”

 

 “Yes, I figured this talk would come.  I realize now, belatedly as it may be, that my treatment of young Anthony has been completely out of line and I issue him my sincerest apologies for underestimating him.  And I applaud you, Jethro, for opening your heart to someone else after Shannon.” Ducky spoke calmly and slowly, watching the other man.

 

 Gibbs lets out a sigh.  “Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about, Duck.  Tony’s getting enough trouble from Abby, David and McGee, he doesn’t need it from you too.  He’s under a lot of pressure and all eyes are on him now.”

 

 Ducky nods as he listens.  “Jethro, I am sorry Anthony has had to go through so much because of his teammates.  And I am especially sorry for not noticing it before, or how badly my actions have hurt him.”

 

 “Thanks a lot, Ducky, it’s really appreciated”, Tony says from behind them, he’d followed Jimmy back down to autopsy to ask Ducky about some results he’d found that puzzled him.

 

 “Oh, Anthony, I do hope you can forgive me for my insolent behavior towards you in years past.  I’ll try my best to act better and see the true you, Anthony”, Ducky says as he turned to face the younger man.

 

 Tony watches him for a moment before nodding.  “Ducky, of course I’ll forgive you.  You’re one of Jethro’s oldest friends, and unlike the three absent members of the team, you’ve seen the error of your ways, which I greatly appreciate.”  He smiles at the older man, who meets his smile with one of his own.

 

 “Thank you, Anthony.”  Ducky removes his gloves and takes Tony’s hand in his own, squeezing it to further express his gratitude.  Tony shares another smile with him before remembering why he had decided to go down there in the first place.

 

 “Oh, Ducky, would you mind coming up to the lab with me?  The piece of metal you found stumped me a little, and I need your help.”

 

 “Of course I’ll come, Anthony, and I’m sure Jethro would like to come too”, Ducky turns his head to look at where Gibbs had stood before he turned, but Gibbs wasn’t there, he is already on his way to the elevator, and Tony and Ducky scurry to follow after him.  After the elevator doors had slid shut, Ducky begins to chuckle softly.  “I guess nothing you can do will change Jethro’s behavior, Anthony?”

 

 Tony grins.  “Of course not, Ducky, he’s Gibbs.”  He had to admit that, of the four who had questioned his abilities, Ducky was his favorite.  He liked the old man and his stories, and hadn’t wanted to shut him out.  And now that he understood what he had done wrong and was trying to straighten things out, Tony knows that between them, things would work out.

 

 Before the elevator reaches its destination, Tony turns around and presses a small kiss to Gibbs’s cheek.  “Don’t you ever change.  Or you’ll be the one who’s given the headslaps”, he threatens teasingly as the elevator doors opens and the trio step out, going into the lab.  Abby has returned and was blocking the door from Tony, until she saw Gibbs.  She springs towards him and gets right into his face.

 

 “Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!  Tony was in my lab, doing my job, using my equipment!  Gibbs, you have to tell him he can’t do that!”  She says, stomping her foot like a spoiled brat.

 

 “I have no right to order him around anymore, Abby.  And have you yourself paid for this equipment?”  Gibbs says calmly, watching her.

 

 “Well, no, but that’s not important!  Everyone knows this is my lab, that you do not intrude in Abby’s lab.”  She pouts.

 

 “This lab belongs to NCIS, not you”, Ducky says kindly.  “Abigail, Anthony was doing your job because you were not there to do it yourself.  This was urgent and they did not find it of utmost importance to locate you.  What was more important to perform the necessary tests to help narrow down the suspect list.  Am I not correct, Anthony?”

 

 Tony nods.  “That’s correct, Ducky.  We didn’t have time to go out on a wild goose chase for you, David and McGee when we had an investigation to work.”  He walks into the lab and gestures for Ducky to follow him.  “Okay, so I've worked out that the sample is aluminum.  But I cannot work out what kind of weapon it could have come from.”  Tony shows Ducky the results.

 

 “Ah, Anthony, this aluminum came from a high-quality baseball bat.  I think we have found ourselves the murder weapon.  Good job, Anthony.”

 

 Tony can't help but feel proud at the praise from Ducky, but it's soon cut short by the snort from Abby.

 

 “Good job?  In half this time I could have worked out manufacturer, the year it was made and dealers”, She scofs.

 

 “Yeah, well if you had been here to do your job, maybe.  But you weren't, so I had to step in”, Tony notes.  “While I take longer than you, I get the job done when necessary, miss Sciuto.  Now I suggest you stop whining and do your job.  I’ll be happy to leave this work to you, because I have an investigation to run.  Behave, miss Sciuto, or I will write you up for indecent behavior.”

 

 “You wouldn’t!” Abby gasps.

 

 “Oh, I will.”  Tony watches her.  “And if he won’t, I will”, Gibbs shoots in.  “Good work, DiNozzo”, he continues, placing a hand on Tony’s shoulder.  The two team leaders turn, completely in sync, and leave the lab, leaving Abby and Ducky behind as they go back to the squad room.

 

 Ducky looks over at the scientist with a hint of disdain.  “Abigail, I have to say, I am not happy with the way you are handling the current situation.  Anthony has given you plenty of time to adjust to the new, more mature him, and you are acting like a spoiled brat.” 

 

 “Oh, so he lets you call him Anthony, but we have to call him DiNozzo?” Abby spits at him.  “Why?”

 

 “Because I realized the error of my ways and know what I have to do to treat Anthony with the respect that he deserves.  He told me it was okay”, Ducky says softly, his smooth voice trying to soothe the agitated goth.  “And I suggest you try the same before you find yourself without a job.  I have no doubt your behavior will have repercussions.”  His voice now carries a hint of ill-concealed anger as he too turns and leaves, going back to autopsy and leaving Abby alone in the lab that suddenly feels much colder than just a moment ago.  Abby shudders, looks around and steps up to the computers and beginning to work.   _For Gibbs,_ she tells herself.   _Not for Tony._

**Author's Note:**

> As always, kudos and comments are appreciated!


End file.
